The invention relates generally to telephone subscriber services and more particularly to improved call-waiting with caller identification services and apparatus.
The call-waiting with caller identification telephony feature is becoming more popular as a service offered by many telephone operating companies.
Several early versions of call waiting services are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,133,995 issued to Zarouni, U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,874 issued to Pommerening et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,731 issued to George et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,156 issued to Beth, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,975 issued to Brecher. Other systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,719 issued to Reese and U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,924 issued to Lewis.
In US Pat. No. 5,263,084 issued to Chaput et al. is shown an improved system and apparatus that mutes the handset in response to receipt of a call-waiting signal to allow receipt of a coded FSK signal that represents the identity of a third communicant while a conversation is taking place between a first and a second communicant. This is a great advantage in that noise signals created by the FSK data transmission will not be heard by the first and second communicants during data transmission but the first communicant can still know the identity of the third communicant by viewing a display.
The disadvantage of the Chaput approach is that the mute condition must occur upon receipt of a call-waiting signal at the CPE, even when no data is yet being transmitted from the local switching office. This is inconvenient and inefficient because the system is muted for an unnecessary interval of time during which communication could occur between the first and second parties.
The present call waiting with caller id systems provide that the second party is placed in a mute condition for a predetermined period of time by the local switching office at the time the call waiting signal is sent to the first party. This occurs so that the second party will not have to listen to the modem transmission of FSK data (that represents the identity of the third party) that is transmitted to the first party apparatus for display. However, this implementation is inconvenient for the second party in that it requires a muted condition not only during the data transmission, but for some predetermined time before and after the data transmission occurs which could be otherwise utilized for conversation between the first and second party.
Even momentary interruptions in a voice conversation have been known to cause miscommunication between communicants, as in the case where telephone number or credit card number data is being exchanged between the first and second communicant. In the case of long distance communication between the first and second party, unnecessary charges are incurred for a telephone call so long as the parties are connected, even if they are not able to speak to each other. Therefore, it is desirable to minimize the amount of time that communication is interrupted by unnecessary muting of the handset.
Although muting can have benefits in preventing communicants from hearing the noise associated with FSK data communication, it may result in wasted time and expense for communicants already engaged in a conversation who are unable to efficiently communicate during the muted period.
What is needed is an improved method and apparatus that minimizes the amount of time that the handset is muted for a first communicant, while allowing data transmission to occur that identifies a third party. Conventional call waiting systems initiate a second party mute condition at the time a call waiting signal is sent. However, dependent upon changes that could easily be implemented at the local switching office affecting the timing of the second party mute condition created by the local switching office, a second party mute condition could also be modified to take advantage of the invention herein so that a first and second communicant would have more time available to continue their conversation and exchange information. Even in the case where no changes were made at the local switching office to reduce the mute period for the second party, the invention described hereinafter is compatible in conventional call waiting systems but could be used in future call waiting systems to minimize the mute condition of the second party as well.
It is one object of the invention to allow for an improved caller identification with call waiting system and apparatus that is compatible with current caller identification services while providing for future services that could be implemented.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus of providing identification information related to a calling third party to a first party already engaged in conversation with a second party.
It is another object of this invention to provide to a first party already engaged in a telephone conversation with a second party an improved apparatus which minimizes the amount of time its"" associated handset is muted to allow for transmission and receipt of identification information related to a calling third party.
It is another object of the invention to provide to a first party already engaged in a telephone conversation with a second party an improved apparatus which mutes its"" associated handset in response to receiving a predetermined time period of mark information in an FSK multiple data message representative of identification information related to a calling third party, and then terminates the mute condition in the handset in response to the absence or end of data transmission from a switching office or upon the expiration of a predetermined time period.
It is still yet another object of the invention to provide to a first party already engaged in a telephone conversation with a second party an improved method and apparatus which mutes its associated handset during or immediately after generating and transmitting an acknowledgement tone to the switching office, and then terminating the mute condition in the handset after a predetermined period of time or in response to receiving an alerting tone or end of message signal from a local switching office.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for muting the handset in an apparatus in response to reception of particular data initiated by detection of a start signal word or start bit or pause in an FSK data message from a switching office after a call waiting signal and an acknowledgement signal have been exchanged between the apparatus and the switching office. Further, the mute condition in a handset of the apparatus is terminated in response to a stop bit, stop word, pause, interruption or end of message signal received from the switching office at the apparatus, or alternately, upon the expiration of a predetermined time period after initiation of the mute condition.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for muting the handset in an apparatus within a predetermined period of time after an acknowledgement signal has been started or sent from an apparatus to the switching office, and for terminating a mute condition in a handset of the apparatus in response to the elapse of a predetermined period of time after the initiation of the mute condition or alternately, in response to receipt of a stop bit, stop signal word, pause, interruption, or end-of-message signal in the FSK data message.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for muting the handset in an apparatus in response to the occurence of a carrier signal detection after a call waiting signal and an acknowledgement signal have been exhanged between the apparatus and the switching office and for the terminating the mute condition in a handset of an apparatus in response to the absence of a carrier detect signal by the apparatus for more than a predetermined period of time.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved call-waiting with caller identification method and apparatus that generates an message received signal back to a local switching office which may be used by the local switching office to terminate a second party mute condition, or for other purposes.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an improved call-waiting with caller identification method and apparatus that compares caller identifying data received against pre-stored data in an apparatus and displays associated data records such as address, city, state or other textual or image information along with, or in place of the caller identification data.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus which is capable of receiving, displaying and storing at a busy telephone station of a first party the caller identifying data of a third party while the first party is engaged in conversation with a second party.
It is yet another object of the invention to store caller identifying data received after a call waiting tone in a memory of an apparatus and to then announce the data received in human audible form.
These and other objects and advantages will become apparent upon review of the detailed specification hereinafter.